I first started this website to build awareness, vent frustrations, call out douchebaggery, try to make people understand that being pro-choice is a dedication to human rights - but like a lot of things in my life - there have been stops and starts and stops and starts...I have taken a break recently largely due to work and life and all the normal bullshit that drags an activist down. After the election, it felt like something broke in me - people that I know, people that I love voted for this monster. We have a President that is literally everything you teach children not to be. It's heartbreaking. Reproductive Rights are going to be challenged at every turn, even more so than in recent years, especially given the change in SCOTUS make up. So it's time to get off the sideline and get back in the game.

I am Pro-Choice because I believe that no one has the right to use another person's body without their permission. I am Pro-Choice because I understand the economic realities of parenthood. I am Pro-Choice because we need to understand that everyone walks a different path. I am Pro-Choice because the hypocrisy of the "pro-life" movement makes me physically ill. I am Pro-Choice because I want kids to be wanted, happy events in a person's life.

There is something too real about The Handmaid's Tale now - I can't bring myself to watch it. I can't help but think that the very people that need to understand the reality of reproductive servitude would never watch it. Our bodies are our bodies - they do not belong to the state, they do not belong to the church and then do not belong to anyone else. We must keep fighting for that sentiment.

The need to control reproduction is integral to the upward mobility and often the survival of families. All families - the need for reproductive health care crosses all socioeconomic levels, all religions, and all political parties. Abortion has been a part of society for thousands of years and will always be, as long as people who do not want to be pregnant get pregnant. Education and contraceptive access is the biggest component to decreasing abortion rates - but it will never do away with the need altogether. That is just reality. People of means will always have options, a European vacation, a trip to Mexico or Canada, or a family friend willing to help out. Middle class and poor people are left at the mercy of what ever nightmare scenario state legislators have dreamed up that year. Due to the onerous regulations and requirements as well as the obvious security need - the price of abortion care is often out of reach.

I think it's time for a little reflection - why is *this* issue - the issue? Who benefits from restricted reproductive freedom? Why do people put up with such an intrusion in to their private, medical decisions? Why do politicians feel they have any right to even speak on the subject, let alone pass laws about it? How is forced pregnancy not some sort of involuntary servitude? These questions keep me up at night.

So readers that have made it this far (first off - gold star for you!) - the message is this - we have no choice now but to fight. Fight for ourselves and the generations that comes next. We need to assure that reproductive health care is available, accessible, and affordable for everyone.

In the days and weeks that have followed since that fateful day in November, it has been hard to have hope, to raise my head - to even get out of bed. It wasn't that the Presidency was lost so much, as to the depths of hell that we had descended to dredge up TheCheetoThatWillNotBeNamed and that otherwise good and decent people (along with a whole ton of people who were neither good nor decent) betrayed the soul of our nation and brought this pox upon us. However, there is little time for crying - in baseball or in politics. Now is the time to fight, and fight, and fight. Fight for ourselves, our families, our friends, for the next generation - even for the people that have gotten us into this mess. There are so many things at stake for so many people. Many of whom, probably didn't consider the full ramifications of the votes they cast. Last night, well actually early this morning - the GOP lead Senate voted to begin the repeal of Obamacare. This on the heals of the House of Representatives voting to repeal - plus Speaker Ryan saying that he will also defund Planned Parenthood in the process. With all the desperate issues facing our nation, climate change, perpetual war, homelessness, out of control student debt - it needs to be noticed and focused on - that the thing that Republicans will always go after first - hurts women and particularly poor women. One of the most popular parts of Obamacare has been the contraceptive mandate. I don't know about all of you - but I've appreciated not having the copay every month. Especially, given the amount I already pay for my health insurance. I've appreciated not having to pay a copay to have my well woman exams, something that all women need to ensure our health. But all of that will change if Obamacare is repealed. Beyond the healthcare implications - the economic consequences for women of childbearing age is particularly harmful. We should be better than this as a nation, we shouldn't be asking people to choose between food and medicine, between utilities and birth control.

I wish it was that easy - I wish the last 19 days were just an ill conceived episode of a sci-fi show or a feverish dream from which we could collectively awaken. Unfortunately, the truth is this is all too real.

To be honest, it's hard to know where the rug will be pulled out from under us first. What I do know is that we must all stand together, we must stay informed, we must inform others and we must fight. If not for us, then for the generations that follow. We owe it to them to fight like hell for them, for their rights, for their environment, for their equality.

It will not be easy - but we will not go back. We must not go back.

I am working on a more complete post about this trash heap of an election and the tweeting dumpster fire that is our President-elect. But I wanted to send up a flare - I hope you all will check in from time to time!

While we respect and appreciate your hardwork for XYZ Corp, we believe you are have a fundamental misconception, when it comes to your pay and benefits. Just because we pay you or contribute to your health insurance premiums - that doesn't actually make those things "yours". They are still ours and are subject to all of our deeply held convictions as a corporation in the United States. We have heard that you have been spending part of our money at ABC Corp., we can't tell you how troubling this is to us. The collective psyche of XYZ Corp - even the company's very soul is at stake! We have to inform you - that any and all expenditures at ABC Corp are strictly forbidden. This is against our deeply held beliefs that not only is our money, our money - but so is any money that we spend on anything. Ever. Thank you for your understanding. If your spending habits continue we will have to rescind that particular benefit.

Sincerely,

Your Employer

I realize the above example is a bit extreme - but in all actuality, it really isn't. If companies are allowed to dictate how an employee uses benefits provided as a condition of employment - what stops them from dictating how we spend our paychecks? How long until companies say they won't pay employees that contribute to political causes that are against their "beliefs" - Sounds far-fetched, right? How is this any different? What medications my doctor prescribes, what procedures I have, how I spend my paycheck, where I go to the eye doctor - all of that is my private business. The fact that they foot part of the bill for the benefits I receive does not entitle them to determine how I conduct my private affairs. Most people would think it ridiculous if this was a Jehovah's Witness employer suing for the right to deny coverage of blood transfusions, but because this company is headed by Christians - some how its deeply held beliefs are more important than that of the employees that are effected by these issues. No one is forcing any company to buy contraceptives other than insurance companies. How is this issue any different that McDonald's telling their employees that they can't eat at Burger King - or WalMart telling their employees that they can't spend their money at Target - or a Republican run company from telling its employees that they can't contribute to Democratic candidates? It isn't any different. Benefits packages are compensation packages and they belong to the employees that work really hard to earn them. Companies that operate primarily in the secular realm for profit - cannot expect to be treated like Churches, because they aren't churches. The CEOs of companies are not Pastors or Priests and they certainly are not Gods - the sooner the American people figure that out, the better we will all be.

Last night in Texas, something both wonderful and mind-boggling happened. Hundreds upon hundreds of pro-choice activists filled the Texas state house in an attempt to discourage the latest round of anti-choice laws from passing the house. Unfortunately, the solidly anti-choice house passed most of the measures - but seeing the outpouring of support bolstered a lot of pro-choice politicians in Texas. And as anyone that has EVER tried to get people to show up to any sort of rally will tell you, seeing that see of orange was rather unbelievable. But something else happened in Austin on a dark Texas evening. A woman joined the ranks of the terminally misinformed. (I would say stupid, but I'm trying to be nice). There is a difference between being ideologically opposed to something and just making shit up to seem like you are not an unreasonable zealot. Representative Jodie Laubenberg failed on that last part.

(Disclaimer: I am not claiming that Rep. Laubenberg has a brain tumor or that people that have brain tumors are some how intellectually incapacitated, I just really like the movie Heathers and it gave me an excuse to use this clip - I have to admit though, Heather Duke's crochet ball is an interesting metaphor for pro-choice activism in red states. Every time you somehow manage to get out of the weeds and score a point, some asshat sends you out again.)

I have a special level of disdain for female politicians that are anti-choice, I make no apologies for that. Women that have benefited from the rights that so many have fought for, yet shit on the rest of us, they deserve a certain level of anger. (Ex. Equal Pay - don't see female legislators that vote against equal pay giving back 23% of their salaries).However, Representative Laubenberg's crime this time - is being either woefully ignorant of what the aftermath of a sexual assault is really like, or worse she is leading her flock to believe that her extreme anti-choice politics are not nearly has heinous as they appear. When pressed a rape exception for the 20 week ban she was pushing. Laubenberg replied "In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out…"I have to wonder, has this woman never seen an episode of SVU, like ever, even on accident? This statement is so unbelievably misinformed, that I have to wonder her motives. When male politicians claim that the female body can just "shut the whole thing down" or questions "legitimate rape" or tells women they should prepare for rape like they do flat tires - I get pissed, beyond pissed actually - but I figure they either failed high school biology, didn't have sex ed or are just knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. But when a female politician spreads such bullshit information, it upsets me on a different level. She knows better, she has to - so I'm left with feeling that she just really, really, really doesn't give a shit about other women. She has her position, she has her privilege, she has her power - to hell with everyone else.

The dedicated folks at Trust Women have done it! South Wind Women's Center saw its first patient today! I have to thank these brave and dedicated souls for taking on this endeavor under the most inhospitable of environments. I will help you all in anyway I can!

Now - on to Troy Newman. The vast majority of the readers of this blog are familiar with the massive douchebag that is Troy Newman. For those that do not know - Troy Newman is the head of Operation Rescue. Troy is just another opportunist that has figured out how to make money off the true believer type. He cavorts with terrorists and employs one. Troy was quoted in the New York Daily News's article on the opening of South Wind Women's Center and was predictably offensive.

"An abortion clinic under any other name is still an abortion clinic,... It's just another filthy, dirty chop shop. Ladies aren't going to go there, only desperate women."

There is a lot wrong with this statement....but the "Ladies" part is what really, really irks me. Just who exactly does Troy thinks receives abortion care? 1 in 3 American women will have an abortion by age 45. 73% of those women claim religious affiliation. 6 in 10 are already mothers. (Statistics courtesy of the Guttmacher Institute). He is talking about you, your daughters, your sisters, your mothers, your nieces, your friends. Women seek abortion care. Period. It cuts across socio-economic barriers and lifestyle circumstances. The vast majority of people know someone that has had an abortion - they just may not know it.South Wind is a beautiful facility. The women of South Central Kansas will be served well, no matter what brings them to the clinic.

Picture added for fun:(This picture was included with the NY Daily News article - I'm actually in this picture. This was a counter demonstration to a planned appearance of many Antis in the wake of Dr. Tiller's assassination. We withstood driving rain, wind, heat, everything the Kansas weather can throw at a person - repeatedly throughout the day.)

Tomorrow Kansas House Committees will hear HB2324. This bill is a fetal heartbeat bill and if enacted, would put the state at odds with the precedent set in Roe v. Wade.HB2324 would outlaw abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Typically this occurs sometime later in the first trimester, but can be detected as early as six weeks in some cases. There are several things that make this problematic. First of all, a lot of women don't even know they are pregnant until they are into the middle of the first trimester. This leaves very little time to make a decision, gather the resources and schedule an abortion.Thanks to anti-choice zealots, restrictions on abortion are excessive and make the procedure much harder to obtain than it should be. This is on purpose. The set up waiting periods, threaten and drive providers out of business so you have to travel, force mandatory (often medically unnecessary) procedures, this is all an attempt to make it where it takes women too long to get things in order. Then they spring a heartbeat bill through and Boom! A woman who thought she was doing reasonably well getting everything arranged by the 10 week is told Sorry Sweetheart you are stuck, there's a heartbeat. Then comes the double whammy, said woman who just told no - cannot proceed with an abortion even if she wants one, unless - she can go to a more reasonable state for medical care or there is a severe enough medical condition to justify an abortion. I have to say - the idea of forced pregnancy is repugnant to me. NO ONE has the right to use my body without my consent. NO ONE. Consenting to sex, does not equal consent to pregnancy and gestation, any more than driving down the road is consenting to being rear-ended. In both cases, people generally actively try to mitigate their chances of an accident - but well things happen. I guess people should just have to drive around in cars with their ass ends smashed in, because well - should have kept kept off the road.This legislation is nothing more than yet another attempt by a group of zealots to control women. This has nothing to do with "saving babies" and nothing to do with women's health or any other bullshit concern. This has to do with punishing and controlling women. Particularly poor women. Rich women and their families will always have access to abortion, they can go out of state easily or even out of the country, if necessary - Legislators do not write these laws for people like them - they write them for people like us. People without the means to challenge it, without the means to go somewhere else - and that is what forced thousands of women to take matters into their own hands. We do not want to and will not go back to the days of coat hangers, back alley/black market providers and dead and dying women. Roe established that abortion is legal until viability - this law flies in the face of that precedent - but I fear that is the only purpose. I urge you to contact the Representatives named on the NEWS! page. Thank you!

This morning I attended a Legislative Forum, must admit - this is the first one I've ever attended. I've attended a lot of events, even spied on some Tea Party events - but not the "you have two minutes, talk to us" kind of forum. There were so many concerned citizens there - that time was running low by the time I was able to speak. I am not a good public speaker and kept editing my thoughts for time. There was a lot more I wanted to say....so good thing I have this medium for that! So...without further ado! This is what my brain was really thinking when I spit out my 45 second rambling on SB 142 LOL

Representatives and Senators - Thank you for being willing to spend your Saturday morning listening to your constituents. And also thank you for scheduling this before the first NCAA game of the day. As a woman of childbearing age (for a few more years, barring medical intervention), I am flattered by all of the attention the legislature has been paying to me and others like me. However, I have to say I think your concern is misplaced. I mean, I wish you cared as much for me as you do my potential reproductive capacity - that's really kind of Handmaid's Tale creepy... Instead of being worried about preventing me from having access to abortion (if I should ever need it), or making doctors tell me bogus info or hell letting them lie to me all together - how about making this state hospitable again. Stop your assault on the very services that women and families need to have families - maybe then I wouldn't think your concern was something out of a book that was required reading in high school.HB 2253 has so many bad parts to it. Punishing medical providers that provide abortion care by taking away their sales tax exemption, requiring abortion providers to tell women that abortion is linked to breast cancer - which is FALSE! More needless regulation from a party and a state government that loves the fetus, but hates the child. Don't get me started on SB 142 - I expect to have an adversarial relationship with the Brownback administration and with many of you - I do not however expect to have an adversarial relationship with my doctor. I find it amusing that the same people that are so proud of crafting "women's right to know" requirements (most of which is information that is scientifically dubious at best), somehow thinks it's okay for a doctor to lie to a woman - if the doctor thinks the truth will cause a woman to have an abortion. Doctors are not mind readers - they have no way of knowing who will choose abortion and who will not - all this legislation does is allow ideological driven zealots to prevent women from even considering their constitutionally protected right to choose abortion. If a doctor is morally uncomfortable with the concept of treating women that may use the information they provide to opt for abortion - maybe they should find a new specialty. Please vote NO on HB 2253 and SB 142, oh and that heartbeat bill too!I appreciate my chance to speak here today. All I ask is for this state to return to reason. We have been derailed by blind ideology for far to long.

Today is National Abortion Provider Appreciation Day. In 1993, Dr. David Gunn was assassinated on this date, starting the cycle of violence that culminated in the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, here in Wichita in 2009. These brave providers and their staff members sacrifice a lot to ensure that women and families have the right to choose. It is time for all of us that support abortion rights to stand with these providers. Without providers our Constitutionally protected right is nothing more than academic.

The Trust Women Foundation is hard at work hiring doctors, staff members and renovating Dr. Tiller's former clinic. I wish to thank them all for their bravery, their dedication and their hardwork!

On a personal level - this clinic has to happen for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost, the women of this community have a right to comprehensive medical care and that includes abortion care, if they so choose. Secondly, because the terrorists in this community need to learn that their comprehensive campaign of intimidation ends now. Period. We can not let them win. And lastly, I'm reminded of a comment I read in the Wichita Eagle - questioning why any woman would want to go to a clinic for "regular" medical care that also provides abortion care....here's my answer.I want a clinic that cares about me. Currently, in this state the legislature wants doctors to be able to lie to patients to prevent an abortion, they want women told erroneous information about breast cancer concerns - rather than focusing on the concerns of women. Why do women choose abortion? The reasons are as varied as the women that seek them. It should not be a situation of collusion between the state and a doctor to prevent a woman from exercising her constitutional right to choose. I want a doctor's office that is dedicated to caring for me, that respects me as a human being and trusts me to make the decisions that are best for me, my health and my family. I hope all of you that read this will make a contribution to South Wind Women's Clinic!